WorldWide Drilling Resource

Alaska Miners Association Phone: 907-563-9229 Fax: 907-563-9225 ama@alaskaminers.org www.alaskaminers.org American Exploration and Mining Assn. Phone: 509-624-1158 Fax: 509-623-1241 info@miningamerica.org www.miningamerica.org WorldWide Drilling Resource ® is proud to be a member of these mining associations. Women in Mining 866-537-9694 wim@womeninmining.org www.womeninmining.org 73 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® DECEMBER 2014 Calico Silver Mine by Harry W. Short Engineering Geologist You may recall reading about Calico in the December 2007 WWDR . Let’s reexplore this “Old West” mining town, which has been around since 1881, dur- ing the largest silver strike in California. Four prospectors discovered silver in the mountain, and opened the Silver King Mine, which was California's largest silver producer in the mid-1880s. With its 500 mines, Calico produced over $20 million in silver ore over a 12-year span. When silver lost its value in the mid- 1890s, Calico lost its population. The miners packed up, loaded their mules, and moved away, abandoning the town that once gave them a good living. Calico became a "ghost town”. An attempt to revive the town was made in 1915, when a cyanide plant was built to recover silver from the Silver King Mine's deposits. The early-Miocene Pickhandle Format ion is one of two major ore hosts in the district. Much of the vein- type barite-silver mineralization occurs within this formation. In general, the Pickhandle consists of a series of pyro- clastics and volcanic flows. The mid-late Miocene Barstow Formation overlies the Pickhandle volcanics, the basal contact marked by transition from volcanics to sedimentary rocks. Barite veins within the Pickhandle are a series of northwest- striking, subparallel, normal faults. The Barstow Formation consists of interbedded shales, siltstone; sandstones with some limestone is the second major ore host within the district. The Calico Fault Zone trending N 60º W along the southwest flank of the Calico Mountains is a right lateral strike-slip fault. The Calico Mountains are a folded series of synclines and anticlines that plunge northwest, and the ore veins trend N 20-80° W. Walter Knott purchased Calico in the 1950s, architecturally restoring all but the five original buildings to look as they did in the 1880s. Calico received State Historical Landmark 782, and in 2005 was proclaimed by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to be California's Silver Rush Ghost Town. Today, Calico is part of the San Bernardino County Regional Parks System visited by people from around the country and all over the world. The park offers visitors an opportunity to share in its rich history and enjoy the natural beauty of the surrounding desert environ- ment. Along with its history and attrac- tions, Calico Ghost Town has shops, restaurants, and camping. It is located off Interstate 15, about three miles from Barstow. From the freeway, you can’t miss the giant letters spelling CALICO on the Calico Mountain Peaks behind the ghost town. Harry Harry Short may be contacted via e-mail at michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com Barstow Anticline. Delores by the glass bottle house. 4 *+ .* *..*( ,$''$)" **'- !--*,$!-5 111 %!).! # ,$''$)"-/++'3 *( !,0$)" .#! ($)$)" $) /-.,3 .#,*/"#*/. .#! 1!-. ((!,- $.- ,$'' .!!' / - ,$''$)" '/$ - #,! *(+*/) - !1 !,/) *. ,3 $.- $. $+! ) '$)" **'- )"!)/$.3 ,$0! + ,&- !0 #*)! !-. $) .,!!. '&* !0 2